Painful Memories
by soniczelda nerd
Summary: Ocarina of Time one-shot, based on the OOT manga. Link remembers back to a time that broke his heart, and how it was handled and the end result for him. The loss he endured being too much for him. Read and Review.


**This is an AU one-shot that takes place during the Ocarina of Time manga. My only knowledge of the manga is the plot that inspired this fanfic, and a bit of a personal event in my life. This fanfic is dedicated to my dog, Lucky. I hope you enjoy.**

* * *

Link was walking down the fields of Hyrule, on his way to a place he was sure would at least clear his mind. He had his head down, looking really depressed as he was walking; he sniffled and wiped his eyes of stray tears that came down like a river. Despite his crying, he wasn't feeling just a regular sadness, he was feeling anger as well. Link felt so worthless at this moment for the long walk. He eventually makes his small journey to his favorite spot that helped him clear his mind: Lake Hylia. He sat down on the shore line and just looked out to the lake as tears kept falling from his eyes at a fast rate. Instead of clearing his mind, however, this trip did the exact opposite of what Link was expecting, unfortunately, as he thought of one of the happiest moments of his life from a few weeks ago that took an unfortunate turn for the worse in the end.

"Volvagia..." He sadly whispered, and reminisced on a very good friend of his.

* * *

(Flashback)

Link was just walking out of Lon Lon Ranch. He had been called by Malon and Talon to come over to help with some work they were doing, which he was happy to do. After helping Malon and Talon rally up and bathe the horses, milk the cows, and feeding the cuccos he left the ranch after Malon had cooked up a plate of eggs and bacon as thanks for his help.

"That was fun, and nothing feels better than the feeling of helping someone." He said and walked to Hyrule Castle Town.

When he got there, he walked to the main plaza and saw the usual sight of people running around and running their stands; the amazing thing that kept Link happy was that everyone seemed happy, no matter how bad of a day they had. Seeing the towns people walk down the street and greeting him with a smile made Link happier.

Link kept walking, but heard something suddenly. Almost a grunting sound, but was too gruff to decipher.

"What was that?"

He went to investigate and soon found himself in an alley way. It was a dead end alley, with a dumpster and a trash can in clear view. He started to hear noises again, only this time it was much more clear, it sounded almost like whimpering than grunts. Link stepped foot in the alley, headed for the trash can first, with the noise getting louder. Link took a peek inside the trash can and couldn't believe what he had found. He had found a baby dragon in the trash can, nibbling on what looked to be some piece of meat down to the bone. The dragon looked up at Link, startling the young boy which made him knock down the trash can, and the little dragon inside. Link looked at the dragon and let out a small smile.

"Hey little guy."

the dragon scurried back into the trash can, obviously frightened of the boy. Link went up to the trash can, concerned with the creature, and looked inside and saw the shaking dragon staring back at him.

"Hey, don't worry. I'm not going to hurt you."

the dragon looked up at Link and saw him give a comforting smile. The dragon seemed even more frightened by Link, and stood in place.

"Come on, don't be scared."

The dragon looked at Link again and saw that his arms were held out and that he had stepped back from the trash can. Feeling a sense of safety, the dragon slowly started to get out of the trash can, into the light for Link to see. Once out, the dragon got closer to Link, and let the boy pick him up, and it immediately cuddled Link. Link started to pet the little dragon and started to chuckle when the dragon made slight croaking noises from being petted.

"You're something else, huh? What were you doing in the trash can?"

The dragon just kept cuddling Link, its body vibrating on Link's arms, as if it were purring. Link let out a giggle.

"I think I'll keep you, I'll take care of you, little guy." Link said as he kept petting the dragon. "You'll need a name then, won't you?"

the dragon looked up at Link as he was thinking. Link smiled and looked at the dragon, coming up with a name for it.

"How about... Volvagia? Do you like that, boy?"

The dragon, Volvagia, let out a happy sounding squeal and started to lick Link's face. Link laughed at the cute little assault Volvagia was giving him.

(End flashback)

* * *

Link continued to cry as he thought more of that day. He remembers being so happy when he found Volvagia, he remembers that day like it was only yesterday. The calm flow of the lake was too quiet and all that could be heard was Link's sniffling; his tears also landing on the water's surface, crippling the gentle and flat water. He thought to what happened weeks after finding him, and what had to have been the most tragic and unfair thing in his life.

(Flashback)

* * *

Link and Volvagia were running around Castle Town, laughing and having a great time. The towns people watched the two play and run around, which concerned some of the residence that there was a dragon in the midst, Link however payed no mind to them and just focused on having fun with Volvagia.

"You can't catch me!" Link teased, looking back at the red dragon.

Volvagia started to run faster in retaliation to what Link said, making Link run faster as a result, but still laughing all the same. They kept laughing and running, with both of them nearly running over some people along the way, but they were able to duke them at nearly the right moment. Link looked back at Volvagia to see how close he was; he was too focused on Volvagia and didn't see that someone was in front of him. He bumped into the person, falling down to the ground. He started to rub his head and heard the person speak.

"Watch where you are going!"

Link looked up to see the man he had bumped into. He saw that the man had mysteriously grayish skin, red hair, and wore what looked to be a black suit of armor along with a cape of sorts.

"I'm sorry, sir, I wasn't paying attention." Link apologized.

"Obviously." Said the man, clearly annoyed. He looked at Link for a moment until his eyes looked over at Volvagia and his scowl grew bigger. "What is that creature?!"

Link saw that he was pointing at Volvagia and chuckled.

"That's my baby dragon." He told the man. "His name is Volvagia."

"It doesn't matter what his name is, creatures like that should not run rampant around Hyrule, let alone the castle town!"

"He's not just any creature! And besides, he's just a baby."

"All the more reason for why this thing cannot be here."

The man went to grab Volvagia, when Volvagia suddenly lunged at him. The man was caught off guard by this and was brought down by Volvagia, whom immediately started biting the man.

"Volvagia!" Link shouted.

"Ah, get this monster off me!" Shouted the man.

Link went to go grab Volvagia, and tried to pull him off the man, but Volvagia was too strong to pry off of the man so easily. Link tried harder to pull Volvagia off, but each attempt was futile. Eventually, Hylian guards came on the scene and saw Volvagia attacking the man.

"Lord Ganondorf!" One of them shouted.

They went over to help pull the dragon off of Ganondorf. With the added strength of the guards, Volvagia finally let go of Ganondorf, where Link took him in his arms.

"Volvagia, what has gotten into you?" Link scolded Volvagia. Volvagia just buried his head in Link's chest.

One of the guards looked over at Ganondorf and went to check on him.

"Ganondorf, are you alright?" He asked.

"No! This beast suddenly attacked me!" Ganondorf snapped.

"What! That's not true, he probably thought you were going to hurt him and he just reacted!" Link countered.

"Don't try to sugar coat this, kid." Another guard told him

"I'm not sugar coating it, that really happened!"

"You can't ever predict what something like that can do, so what makes you think he wouldn't attack me for no reason?" Asked Ganondorf.

"Stop it!" Link snapped. "I've been taking care of Volvagia since I found him a couple weeks ago, and I know he would never attack anything or anyone without a reason."

"Then explain why I was assaulted by him."

"I don't know why! But I'm telling you, it was an accident."

"The day I believe that is the day that thing escapes my presence forever."

"LEAVE HIM ALONE!"

Suddenly, the faint sound of wheels on the concrete pavement could be heard. It got louder as time went by, along with hooves hitting the ground. The men and Link looked in the direction of the castle and saw a white carriage being lead by two white horses.

"Here comes the princess!" One guard informed.

The white horses stopped in front of the men and a servant went to open the carriage. Someone stepped out the carriage, it was the princess of Hyrule, Princess Zelda. She had stepped out of the carriage and looked at the scene between the men and Link.

"What in Hyrule is going on?" She asked.

"Princess Zelda, Ganondorf was viciously attacked by that beast." the guard said, pointing at Volvagia who was craddled in Link's arms. "We arrived just in time to help him, but the beast nearly tore his arm off."

"That's not true!" Link interfered.

"You quiet down." Ganondorf snapped to Link. "Hasn't that dragon of yours caused enough trouble?!"

"You keep accusing him as if he is a trained killer that almost mauled you to oblivion!"

"Listen here you, I wouldn't have been attacked if you had just released that thing for it to be away from civilization!"

"Enough!" said Zelda. "Let me hear his side of the story." She looked over at Link and nodded to him, a smile rested on her lips.

Link smiled too and began with his side of the story.

"What had happened was me and Volvagia here were just playing around, and I wasn't paying attention so I bumped into Mr. Ganondorf. Then Mr. Ganondorf told me that I should be more careful, then looked to Volvagia and said that he shouldn't be here. Then he reached for Volvagia, and I guess Volvagia thought Mr. Ganondorf was going to hurt him, and he just reacted and lunged towards him and started biting him. But it was an accident, I swear." Link said.

"Actions from a creature like that is no accident, it's in their nature." Said Ganondorf.

"Shut up! You don't know what you're talking about!"

"I know that I was attacked by a creature with a natural instinct to attack. Say it as many times as you want, it was no accident."

"Enough!" Zelda snapped again. "There is no use bickering like children, what's done is done. What we have to do now is decide our coarse of action."

Ganondorf smirked at Zelda and crossed his arms, supporting his bitten arm while he did.

"Very well then. What do you propose we do, princess?"

Zelda started to think of what they should do. On one hand Ganondorf was right, creatures like these are unpredictable, so the possibility of an accident is unlikely, not to mention the amount of bad attention that her and the rest of the Royal Family would receive because of this. The last thing they would need is a lawsuit on their tails.

But on the other hand, the boy seems to care about the dragon that he is literally trying to justify this dragon for what it did, as if the dragon is a close and personal pet to this child; or rather, a close and personal friend. She looked at Link and heard him sniffling, and even saw visible tears on his face.

"Please..." Said Link, cuddling Volvagia closer. "Don't take him, please. He's just a baby." Link cried and looked up at Zelda, his tears clearly visible; pure fear and anxiety were present in his eyes as he held Volvagia close. "I'm begging you, please, don't take him."

Zelda's heart broke at the sight of Link crying and begging for the dragon's life. She looked over at the men who looked at her as if to say to do the right thing and get rid of the dragon. She thought more about it, could she really just pry this dragon, whom the boy obviously and so deeply cares about, right out of his hands? She sighed deeply and looked up at the men, coming to an answer.

(End flashback)

* * *

Link continued to cry, just letting the tears run down his face as they hit the lake below. He put his head down and just couldn't stop the tears anymore, he felt so alone since Volvagia was taken away. Someone soon walked up behind Link, watching as he silently broke down, and hugged him from behind.

Link turned around and saw that Zelda had hugged him, a sorrowful look on her face. Link just sniffled and looked back out to the lake. Zelda sat down next to him, her arms still wrapped around him as she spoke.

"Link, please forgive me. I didn't want to take him away from you." She comforted, looking at his tear stained face. "My father was only doing what needed to be done for the safety of Hyrule."

Link sniffled and started to let out whimpers, before breaking down. Zelda grabbed his head and rested it on her shoulder. They remained like that for a while, and Link was starting to calm down, going from crying to little whimpers again.

"I'm sorry, Link."

Zelda kissed his head and caressed him shoulders, comforting him even more.

"I miss him so much." Link choked out.

"I know, but everything will be alright. I promise."

Link and Zelda sat there silently, and watched the lake for the time being. The thought and image of Volvagia never leaving Link's mind as he and Zelda watched the sun set over the horizon.

* * *

**I hope you enjoyed the fanfic. This was something I had in my head, and I felt like sharing it with you. A similar situation in this fanfic happened to me once. I had a dog that I was almost really close with, and he was taken away because of that situation. Much like Volvagia in this fanfic, Lucky attacked someone for an unknown reason, and I knew he was on borrowed time after that. Long story short, he was taken away after things were resolved. My view on what happened was that it was completely unfair that he was taken away for something anyone and anything can do at anytime. I've since moved on and am happy again, and believe that Lucky is as well.**

**Sorry for the ramble, but I at least needed to tell of the inspiration of this fanfic. I hope you enjoyed.**

**Dedicated to my dog, Lucky.**


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